Texas Makes Post-Conviction DNA Testing Easier

Texas has enacted a law making it easier for convicted defendants to get DNA testing, according to the Innocence Project.

People who have been convicted of crimes now have to show that there a reasonable likelihood that evidence contains DNA, Texas Lawyer's Angela Morris reports. The law was enacted in response to Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rulings strictly interpreting Texas' "post-conviction DNA testing statute 'to require proof that biological evidence exists before a judge can allow testing to see if exculpatory biological evidence exists. This new interpretation severely restricts a judge's ability to order DNA testing … which in turn prevents the discovery of exonerations in cases where exculpatory evidence is often microscopic,'" Morris reports.